At the top is a Glock 81 with some character, below it a model 78 with pristine finish.

Glock produces two models in three different color schemes - the Glock 78 with a straight back, designed for military use, and the Glock 81 with a root-saw back, designed as a survival knife. The blade and cross-guard are phosphate treated-black spring steel, while the handle and sheath are Glock polymer and available in the same colors as their handguns - black, olive drab and tan.

While I'm not particularly fond of Glock's ubiquitous handguns (mostly for purely subjective reasons, like ergonomics and that I'm just not fond of polymer handguns), I find the Glock field knives to be excellent pieces of equipment, especially given the incredibly low cost.

The spring steel blades are extremely tough, as evidenced by online videos showing destruction testing, and are very easy to sharpen. I've put my Glock 81 through heavy use, and have used it as a throwing knife (at which they excel), which sometimes involved into hitting/landing on rocks - the only repair has been with a cheap sharpening stone. As you can see in the pictures, the only "damage" is the worn finish on the blade.

These are very simple knives without an excess of features, though they do featue a removable cap at the base of the handle, exposing a steel storage compartment. There is also a small channel running parallel to the storage compartment, so that a wooden stick or tree branch can be fitted into the back of the handle to form a spear, with a nail running through the channel to help fix it in place.

Ergonomics are definitely not of the modern style, instead having more in common with older style military knives and bayonets. In fact, the Glock field knives were originally modified from the bayonets which Gaston Glock produced for the Austrian military before he got into the business of designing and manufacturing handguns. The ergonomics do not lend themselves as well to slashing as with some knives having curved handles, but it can still be done with ease and sureity. For thrusting, the ergonomics are more than adequate, and the well designed cross-guard (the top edge of which also doubles as a bottle opener) protects against the hand slipping forward onto the blade. The ergonomics are just as condusive to a strong saber grip as to an overhand or underhand grip.

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The Glock knife's ergonomics lend themselves quite nicely to a saber grip, making for quick and powerful thrusts with a strong grip.

Glock knives come supplied with a monolithic Glock polymer sheath which utilizes a very useful release mechanism that can be quickly actuated one-handed, by pushing down against the locking device with the thumb while lifting up against the lower edge of the cross-guard with the index finger, naturally bringing the knife into a saber grip - don't worry about cutting your finger while lifting against the cross-guard, as the knife has a long enough ricasso to keep your finger away from the cutting edge.

Glock 78 field knife and sheath.jpg (140.77 KiB) Viewed 1109 times

The sheath is made from a single piece of Glock polymer and is durable enough to withstand seriously rough use without danger of the knife coming loose.

The sheath also has a very unique and practical attachment device - the Glock polymer is flexible enough that the belt loop bends out of its locking position so that the sheath can quickly be attached to a belt without having to unfasten it. The sheath also has a small loop near the bottom, which allows a string to be run through it to keep the sheath close to the leg. There is also a drain-hole at the bottom of the sheath.

Glock 81 field knife and sheath.jpg (105.87 KiB) Viewed 1109 times

Here is a close up view of the sheath's retention and attachment points.

The only issue out of the box that I have noticed is that these knives come the very tip of them blunted - I have no idea why this is, but it is easily remedied with a few minutes of sharpening to bring the tip to a very sharp point, as seen on the knives in the photos.

While they might not be the most feature-laden knives on a market saturated with products designed to appeal to those paranoid about needing every extra feature possible "just in case" or desiring the most "fashionable" knives the cutlery, survival and tactical equipment industries can come up with, the Glock field knives do what they need to do extremely well without all the extra nonsense - it is a mature knife that is intended to last through incredible amounts of hard use and still perform like it did when it was brand new.

Glock 81 field knife.jpg (147.67 KiB) Viewed 1109 times

With its solid construction, spring steel blade and root saw, the Glock 81 is a superb general purpose survival knife that can be counted on for serious use.

Let's hear from anyone else on the forum who has experience with these knives.

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